CCS: Spirits of the West
by Lucky Jinxe
Summary: The start of High School. Sakura and Shaoran are united, all seems well; but a mysterious English girl has returned with Tomoyo from Sakura's friend's holiday in the far away country bearing a letter warning Sakura that her adventures weren't yet over.
1. Prologue

**P**rologue

It was the first of September. Across the world students returned to school to start another school year, for some it was their first year of school, the beginning of a long journey through the hardship of education.

In Japan, in town named Tomoeda, a copper haired girl, who could only be described as cute, walked towards the gates of Tomoeda Elementary school. Smaller children a few years younger than her were streaming through the gates. As the girl approached the wrought iron gates a voice called out to her.

"Sakura!" The copper haired girl turned to see a brown haired boy running towards her. They were the same age and the girl instantly blushed a little and looked down at her feet a little before looking back up at the approaching boy.

"Shaoran-kun…." She mumbled the greeting as the boy pulled to a halt in front of her.

"Sakura, did you forget?" Li Shaoran asked. Sakura looked questioningly up at him, they were the same age but as was normal Shaoran was significantly taller than Sakura.

"Hoe?" She murmured her almost trademarked sound of confusion.

"That's the wrong school. We're in High School, remember?"

_That's right. My name is Kinomoto Sakura. I'm just starting high school now. This is Li Shaoran-kun; he comes from Hong Kong and is my boyfriend. Oh; and I'm also the mistress of the Clow Cards, or Sakura Cards as they are now._ _Shaoran-kun and I competed to capture the Clow Cards after I accidentally released them over three years ago but I became the mistress. After some mysterious incidents I changed the cards into Sakura Cards and after finally resealing the Sealed Card, "The Hope", Shaoran-kun and I became a couple._

_Now Shaoran-kun has returned from Hong Kong to stay here in Japan… with me. _

"You're zoning out again." Shaoran said and Sakura shook her head free of the inner monologue.

"Sorry! Yeah I remember, I'm just so used to going into here that I just followed my feet and they led me here." Sakura looked back towards Tomoeda Elementary and felt as if all her memories of when she had been there were laid out before her.

"Well, we should get going to the right school or we'll be late on the first day." Sakura nodded and together they walked towards a new beginning; and not just in their educational lives.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan, Li-kun.." A pale girl with long, flowing black hair that fell down to her knees smiled at the couple as she crossed the road to their side of the street.

"Good morning, Tomoyo-chan! I haven't seen you very much lately; every time I rang you were on holiday." Sakura said, momentarily sad at the memory of having not spent as much of her holiday as she would have wanted with her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo. The beautiful girl smiled sweetly.

"I'm sorry but my mother insisted we go abroad for once, since her breaks are rarely at the same time as our holidays." Tomoyo's mother was the head of a very successful toy company and as a result her family were very wealthy; but her mother rarely had time for her daughter and so showered whatever free moments she did on her cherished offspring. Tomoyo's mother was also the cousin of Sakura's deceased mother and adored the copper haired girl as if Sakura were her own child.

"Tomoyo-chan!" An out of breath call from behind them made them all stop and turn to see a blonde girl running towards them. She stopped as soon as she caught up, bending and resting her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

"Elena-chan, I thought my mother was sending you to school in the car today?" Tomoyo said, half inquiring. The blonde girl pulled in a few more big breaths before standing up properly.

"I was going to but the car had a problem so I decided to try and catch up with you. I'm glad I looked at that map of the town on the plane!" She beamed at the trio, a smile full of joy. "Oh, might these be your two close friends you talked about?" Elena asked, peering at Shaoran and Sakura in interest.

"Ah yes I'll introduce you. Sakura-chan, Li-kun, this Mithran Elena-chan. Elena-chan is staying with me for the moment, her father is a business associate of my mother and he's currently working in Japan so my mother offered to let Elena-chan stay with us so she had somewhere familiar to stay."

"I was so happy that Tomoyo-chan's mother let me stay! I love Japan, it's been so long since I came here last and I hadn't seen Tomoyo-chan in ages! Nice to meet you!" Her smile, impossibly, widened, the energetic girl a complete opposite to the quiet and mature Tomoyo.

"Mithr-" Sakura started but Elena interrupted, shaking her head vigorously.

"No, no! Please, call me Elena-chan!" She insisted and Sakura nodded, starting again.

"Elena-chan, are you not from Japan then?" Elena shook her head.

"Nope! I'm from England. Oh, that reminds me, I was told to give you a letter. It was faster to get it to you by hand rather than to mail it." Elena rummaged inside her school satchel and pulled out a letter with Sakura's name written in Kanji on the front. She handed the envelope to Sakura.

"Who's it from?" Shaoran, who had not yet spoken, asked Elena.

"It's from Eriol." Elena said, forgoing use of any suffix to demonstrate her familiarity with the boy.

"Hiiragizawa-kun?" Shaoran demanded. Elena's head bobbed up and down as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup! He gave it to me before Tomoyo-chan arrived and said he had foreseen me going to Japan. Eriol's predictions are never wrong, I mean, Clow Reed's reincarnation wouldn't get simple visions of the future like this wrong, right?" That stopped them all short and for a moment no one could say anything.

"You know about Clow-san?" Sakura demanded, Elena gave Sakura a funny look as if to say it was obvious.

"Of course I do! I come from one of the old English families that are descended from the most powerful sorcerers before Clow Reed appeared so I have some of that power too. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone your secret." She gave Sakura a conspiratorial wink and turned to Shaoran and inspected him keenly. "Hm, although most of my magic is a little odd, it's very different to that of my ancestors, it comes in handy though." She nodded as if she had found something satisfactory in Shaoran's face, a mask of confusion and unease at the girl's scrutiny.

"We'll be late if we linger out here for much longer." Tomoyo said and the group were dragged away from the world of magic and sorcerers, of Clow Reed and the magical cards he had created. They were school children entering High School and it didn't matter that Sakura was one of the most powerful magicians in the world; she would still get a tardy like any other students so the group took Tomoyo's advice and headed for the start of their new school life.

And in her own separate world, watching over the lives of everything on the world for millennia in advance, a shrouded wraith watched the scene in front of it and grinned. The wraith, known by many names but most commonly known as Fate, was bored and when Fate was bored, someone's life always became harder.


	2. Chapter 1

**C**hapter 1

"Sakura-chan!" The cheery voice rang out across the classroom as the students got up, leaving for lunch. Sakura looked up to see who had called out to her and saw Elena grinning and holding a lunchbox. "Let's eat together!" She exclaimed, holding he lunchbox out as if emphasising the consummation of food. Even if Sakura had not wanted to eat with Elena, the overpowering enthusiasm was just that, overwhelming.

"O-okay. Let's find Shaoran-kun and Tomoyo-chan then." Elena nodded enthusiastically.

"Yup, lunch doesn't taste as good if you're not surrounded by the people you love! Ah, here they are!" Shaoran and Tomoyo, who had been placed on the other side of the classroom, had made their way over to the two girls.

"Where shall we eat then?" Tomoyo asked, glancing out the window at the cloud covered skies. Elena followed her gaze and frowned, an expression that looked odd on her usually bright face.

"It looks a bit gloomy out there, I daresay! We're allowed to eat in here, aren't we?" She asked, glancing around and her gaze falling on a couple of boys eating their lunches by the window. "There, those chaps are eating in here so it must be permitted. If we just push a couple of tables together we'll have our own table!" She beamed at them and they did as she had suggested; creating a slightly larger surface on which to eat.

The group chatted away, mostly about their holidays. Elena spoke about her home country, England.

"All the buildings are old and pretty, they have more character than some of the newer ones they've been building; but the countryside is the best. The English countryside, I promise you, there's no place like it in the world! It's the place closest to Heaven, there's that hymn about it, and how Jerusalem was built in England. Of course it wasn't; but back then everyone thought their country was the Holy Land." She paused from pouring out the details of England to take a bite out of a sandwich she had in her lunchbox. She may have adjusted to most of the Japanese customs; and spoke the language fluently; but she still ate Western style food.

"It looks like it's going to rain." She commented, changing the subject and glancing out the window, something flashed in her eyes but was gone as soon as it had been there. "It's going to be a very heavy downpour." She said gloomily, taking another bite.

"How can you tell?" Shaoran asked, vaguely interested now.

"I was born in England, the land of the wet. The only wetter place on Earth is Wales and that's right next door to us, you start to recognise the weather's habits after a few years." Elena said, drinking from a juice carton. Outside there was a deep rumble and the strange flash appeared in Elena's eyes. Sakura, sitting opposite her, just noticed it but chose not to bring it up.

"Thunder and lightning too… that's pretty rare in Japan, isn't it?" Elena asked, her cheerful demeanour was a little diminished now and there was a strange light behind her aqua blue eyes.

"Yes… I can't really remember when we last had a real storm here in Tomoeda." Tomoyo said, her index finger touching her chin in her normal thinking pose.

"I see." Elena said simply, biting into the second sandwich in her lunchbox.

* * *

Elena stood on the steps outside, staring into the downpour and then up at the sky where white flashes followed by a rumble signified the coming of lightning. The door behind her opened and Shaoran appeared, closing it quietly behind him. Elena smiled at him.

"Reminds me of England, although it's not as heavy as some of the stuff we get." She greeted him, turning back to stare into the rainy haze before them.

"Sakura said your eyes changed when you heard the thunder." Shaoran started, throwing her a line to reveal her thoughts. Elena sighed, smiling tiredly to herself.

"I don't suppose she's read that letter yet, has she?" She asked instead, Shaoran shook his head then opened his mouth to continue his interrogation but Elena held a hand out up to silence him. "This is part of that. Put your hand out into the rain." She commanded, Shaoran took a step forwards and held his hand out so that it was out of the protection of the slight shelter they were in. Images of something he could not quite make out sprang into his mind and he leapt back, turning his hand over and staring at it.

"What is this?" He demanded, staring at the rain more closely as if he could find something out that way.

"These clouds are laced with some kind of power. I felt something strange when they appeared; and then the thunder sounded weird too. The magic in them is concealed but my senses are stronger than most so I saw through it; although I can't work out anything but that they're of magic origin. I came out here in the hope of finding something new out; but no success. Let's go inside then, better to be away from this while we don't know what it's about, right?" She smiled, opening the door and motioning for Shaoran to go through.

After he had walked inside, Elena took one last glance at the rain outside before following him, allowing the door to slide shut.

* * *

"Sakura-chan, have you read Eriol's letter yet?" Elena asked as she and Shaoran entered the room. Sakura shook her head then caught sight of the look on Shaoran's face and tried to catch his eye; but he was too sunk in his thoughts to notice much around him. Tomoyo saw Sakura's worried face and whispered to her quickly.

"I'll distract Elena-chan." She said, smiling knowingly. Over the years, Sakura had learned not to question how her friend knew when she was thinking about something, Tomoyo probably knew her better than she knew herself.

"Elena-chan, have you spoken to Imanda-san since you came to Japan?" Tomoyo asked Elena, moving off to the side. Elena followed, shaking her head.

"No, not yet. He's not in a place where phones will reach him so I can't get a message to him just yet." Elena seemed slightly saddened but shook her head, the smiling coming back on full wattage.

"That's a shame; Imanda-san was so nice when we visited him." Tomoyo continued and Elena nodded her agreement.

"Yeah, Himie is generally nice to everyone. It's just part of his nature…."

Behind them Sakura gently tugged Shaoran's jacket sleeve to get his attention and motioned to the door and they left the room.

"What is it?" Shaoran asked once they had the scant privacy of the corridor. Sakura looked worriedly up at him.

"Shaoran-kun… you had a weird look on your face when you came back so I got a little worried…." She trailed off, not sure what to say or how to explain the strong feeling that something bad had happened. Shaoran didn't say anything to begin with but then relented and guided Sakura over to a window where they could see the rain falling.

"Do you see anything different about the rain?" He asked and after a moment's staring Sakura shook her head.

"It just looks like rain to me." She said, still staring at it.

"Mithran was staring at it outside, I wanted to find out about what you said. She sensed something when the thunder came and wanted to check it out. Something's weird about this rain." Shaoran said, he too stared out at the rain.

"What do you mean, weird? It's not like with when Eriol-kun had that rain fall on the town is it?" She asked. Shaoran just shrugged.

"I don't know; but when it touched me I saw something; but I don't know what it was and I couldn't make it out properly; but there's some kind of magic in those clouds. They're not natural." Shaoran's hand wrapped around Sakura's and clasped it, making Sakura blush in embarrassment, she glanced down the corridor but no one was looking.

"Just be careful, okay?" Shaoran asked, his eyes were full of worry, the usual mask he had dropping for Sakura. Sakura nodded and stepped a little closer to Shaoran, her hand gently squeezing his.

* * *

The end of school arrived and the rain was still pouring down heavily. Tomoyo was talking on the phone, ringing home to have a limousine come to school to pick her and Elena up.

Shaoran was staring out at the clouded sky, deep in thought again and Sakura stood next to him. Neither had brought an umbrella with them and so were at a loss as of what to do. The Daidouji limousine pulled up at the bottom of the steps and the guards stepped out with umbrellas, making a sheltered corridor to the car door so that Tomoyo and Elena would be sheltered as they got into the vehicle.

As she got in, Tomoyo spoke to one of her guards who nodded and walked to the back of the limousine and opening the baggage area, rummaging around inside. She found what she was looking for and closed the boot, heading up to Shaoran and Sakura, the copper haired girl waving to Tomoyo and Elena who waved back from inside the car. The guard handed Shaoran a pair of umbrellas.

"Tomoyo-sama requests you take these to see you home." The guard said simply before turning back down the steps, closing her umbrella and climbing into the limousine and closing the door. The long vehicle pulled away and turned out into the road, vanishing into the rainy haze.

Shaoran put up one umbrella and handed the other one to Sakura who put hers up.

"Hey Shaoran-kun… what do you think this is all about? I'm the mistress of all the cards now and I changed them all into Sakura Cards, I even captured and changed the Sealed Card. What else could there be?" She asked. Shaoran sighed.

"I don't know; but at least we know it's coming. If Mithran hadn't noticed it neither of us would know until we had touched it like I did earlier. There are things she's not telling us, I'm sure." They lapsed into silence for a few moments before Sakura, ever the energetic girl, shook her head.

"But Elena-chan's been nice to us! She told us about it and she knows Eriol-kun so she can't be the cause of this, right?" Shaoran stopped, surprised by Sakura's sudden outburst and looked into her determined eyes and relented.

"Yeah, I don't think she started this. I just find it's odd she showed up the same time all this started." They continued on until they reached the crossroads where Shaoran would turn off towards his apartment and Sakura would continue on home; but Shaoran carried on towards Sakura's house.

"Shaoran-kun, where are you going?" Sakura asked. Shaoran stopped and turned around giving her one his dashing smiles.

"Come on, I'll walk you all the way. I don't want to leave you alone until we know more." A smile of true happiness spread out across Sakura's face and she quickly walked the last few steps to catch up to Shaoran and wrapped one arm through his.

"Thank you, Shaoran-kun."

The two continued on until they arrived at the Kinomoto house where Shaoran said his farewells and made sure Sakura had entered the house before turning back along the road. As he turned the crossroads there was a strong gust of wind that blew his umbrella inside out and the heavy rain fell down to fall down upon him. Images flashed in quick succession through his mind.

He thought he saw parts of his own past, he thought he saw someone who looked like a Sakura from before they met, he saw an older version of himself driving a car with an older Sakura in the passenger seat, then he had the umbrella fixed and above him again, stopping the rain falling on him.

"What was that?" He asked himself, glancing up at the sky before continuing on, mulling over the day's events in his mind.

In its own world Fate smiled as it manipulated the weather above Tomoeda. It looked at another vision above it, showing a handsome blonde boy the same height as Shaoran with blue eyes staring up at the raining skies of England. He was twirling a necklace around his finger with a Celtic symbol wrought in shining silver on the end as he stared up. Then his eyes shifted and he stared right into the vision, directly into where Fate's face should be and smiled knowingly.

Fate recoiled and closed the window in front of it and opened others. One showed the car in which Tomoyo and Elena were being driven home in, another was Sakura as she brewed a pot of tea for her family, humming to herself. Fate thought it should feel guilty for burdening the young girl with more troubles; but Fate was bored and besides, Fate had no emotions that it new of.

The last vision window that Fate had opened showed a dark pit where things were a whole tribe of creatures slumbered; but one by one their eyes flashed open and their heads rose to the sky, sniffing and then demonic howls sounded as the caught the whiff of strong magic being used in the world Fate had moved them too.

Somewhere inside the voluminous cloak that Fate wore, dirty and rotted yellow teeth flashed in a grin. The amusement would begin. How would the hunt turn out?


	3. Chapter 2

**Note: **Off to Jersey for a few days, expect a new chapter sometime at the weekend.

**C**hapter 2

The next day the rain hadn't let up, in fact if anything it had only become more intense. Students ran through the torrential downpour to the gates and then into the school proper where they shook the rain free of their umbrellas.

"At least we were prepared today." Shaoran said; opening and closing his umbrella in quick burst to blast the water off of it. Sakura nodded her agreement as she did the same as Shaoran. They each had their own umbrellas today, their borrowed ones in their individual bags.

After changing their outdoor shoes for their indoor shoes the couple ascended the stairs to their classroom on the first floor. Most of the class had not arrived, many would be waiting until the last minute in the hope the rain would stop; but it only seemed to be the reverse and that the downpour increased in its intensity.

Standing by the windows the two stared out across the town, although they could not see far for the rain fell down upon the town like a solid wall, shortening sight range hugely. The classroom slowly filled as more students arrived. Suddenly Sakura had inspiration and turned away from the windows.

"Hey Shaoran-kun, have you seen Chiharu-chan and the others?" She asked excitedly. Shaoran shook his head, surprised by the girl's sudden outburst. Sakura grinned. "They're in the other eighth grade class which is just down the hall! Let's go visit them?" She suggested, looking expectantly for Shaoran's approval. As per usual Shaoran couldn't resist the pleading look in her eyes, not that he had any problem with the proposal, in fact he quite liked the idea of seeing their classmates from the previous school.

Sakura lead the way, speeding out of the classroom with Shaoran following more slowly, smiling as he saw the energetic love of his life running down the corridor, allowing her enthusiasm to rule her actions.

A bell rang, which was odd since the school's start time had not yet been reached and all movement stopped as the speakers placed at intervals around the school burst into life, a low static hum emitted. The students and teachers at the school waited expectantly for the forthcoming announcement.

"Due to the heavy rains the school board has decided to call off school today to ensure all students can make their way home safely. All students and teachers are to leave the premises and return home. I repeat…."

Shaoran caught up to Sakura who was staring up at the speakers.

"It seems things are getting out of hand." He murmured and Sakura nodded.

"Should we clear the clouds away later, to stop things going any further?" She looked to Shaoran who thought the idea through. It sounded like a good idea but something stopped him, he remembered the visions he had seen when the rain had fallen on him the previous day. The rain was not ordinary, there was something else to all this.

"We should consult Mithran." He said finally.

"Elena-chan?" Sakura asked, blinking in confusion.

"She was the one to first realise something was odd about these clouds, maybe she knows more about the rain now?" Shaoran suggested. They had nothing to go on so it was the best course of action they could take for the moment.

"But Elena-chan and Tomoyo-chan haven't arrived yet." Sakura pointed out but as she spoke the two girls in question walked up the steps. Tomoyo saw Sakura and Shaoran and stopped to wave to them, smiling a greeting. Elena stopped too and she glanced at the couple as well but frowned, the expression again looking unnatural on her face.

As Sakura and Shaoran joined them the announcement was repeated and the two girls, who had arrived just after the first one, listened to it.

"Oh, it seems like coming to school was a waste." Elena said, sighing. She wavered a little, as if unsteady then caught the waist height wall that ran around the inside of the stairwell for safety reasons. She slowly sank to the floor, her knees facing towards each other and she held her left temple with her hand as she grimaced in pain.

"Elena-chan!" Sakura and Tomoyo knelt by the pained Elena whose eyes were clamped firmly shut. "What's wrong, Elena-chan?" Sakura asked, gently touching Elena's shoulder.

"Can we get out of here?" Elena said; her voice a whimper of pain. Sakura and Tomoyo looked to Shaoran, the only one who looked calm.

"There's no point remaining here anyway. Daidouji, is it alright if we all go to your house. There are things I need to ask Mithran."

"Of course; but only if Elena-chan's well enough to talk. She said she had a bad feeling about the school today. I'll call home; the car can't have gone far." Tomoyo reached into her bag and fumbled about before she found a cell phone and dialled her home number and asked for the car to come pick them up since the school had been closed for the day.

Sakura helped Elena to her feet and supported the girl as they descended the steps down to the ground floor and then down the corridor to change their shoes. Elena fumbled with her shoes. Every moment the pain she was mysteriously in seemed to heighten and as they were waiting on the sheltered steps at the front of the school she began to shudder.

"Himie… it's coming Himie. It wants to be the only one. Himie… help me…." Elena trailed off as her half closed eyes shut and she slowly fell sideways to collapse onto Sakura who was sitting next to her.

"What's wrong with her?" Sakura asked, alarmed as she held onto the unconscious Elena.

"I don't know; but I bet it's something to do with this rain." Shaoran muttered, glaring up at the sky which suddenly seemed so dangerous and aggressive. The limousine pulled up and the guards piled out again. One of them picked up Elena without a word and put her in the car, then Tomoyo slid inside and gestured for Sakura and Shaoran to do so as well.

The car drove off and the three sat in the car, staring at the prone Elena lying on one of the seats, muttering to herself inaudibly and shuddering occasionally. Tomoyo looked with concern at her old friend, stroking the unconscious girl's hair.

"She said something was coming… what could be coming?" Sakura said, breaking the heavy silence. Shaoran glanced out at the clouds above.

"Who knows? But it's definitely got something to do with this rain." Shaoran recounted how his umbrella had blown inside out the day before and the visions he had been given when the rain had touched him. Tomoyo looked thoughtful.

"That's rather odd. Yesterday I ran inside from the limousine to get out of the rain and I didn't feel anything odd, it was just rain to me; but Elena-chan was gasping as if she'd been running for a long time when she got out of the rain; but she didn't tell me anything at the time." Tomoyo glanced back down at the now still Elena who was mumbling but the shuddering had stopped. "It seems she's recovering." Tomoyo remarked.

At last they arrived at the Daidouji residence and the limousine pulled up in front of the big doors. The guards got out of the car and opened the doors, letting the passengers out. A guard held an umbrella above the door and then one of the guards standing behind her guided each person to the door under the protection of another umbrella.

Sakura slipped on the wet stairs and her hands flew out in front of her to stop her fall. Her hands fell onto the wet stone and images flashed through her mind. She saw her mother, a younger her and her brother and her father, she saw her mother's funeral; and then she saw an older her, or at least she thought it was her, holding a small child in her arms and smiling at an equally aged Shaoran.

Then the guard was helping her up and leading her towards the house.

"You okay?" Shaoran asked; his hands on her arms. Sakura nodded, distracted.

"Yeah… I think I know what you were talking about earlier now." She said and Shaoran nodded, not asking anymore with the guards around them. The door behind them opened and a maid stepped out.

"Of it isn't Sakura-san! We haven't seen you for a while, please, come in." The maid stepped aside and the group walked in, the last guard carrying Elena in. The maid saw the condition of the girl and was instantly flustered.

"Elena-san! Oh we must call a doctor and take her to the hospital! What happened?" Tomoyo calmed the maid down and said they had already seen the school nurse who had said Elena simply needed some rest. The maid yielded to the convincing lie and the guard took Elena up to Tomoyo's room. The trio followed and waited for the guard to leave as they all sat down in the large and richly furnished room.

"I'll go check on Elena-chan." Tomoyo said, standing up and going up the stairs to her bedroom. After some refurbishing her bedroom was now upstairs, downstairs remained her private cinema and lounge.

"Shaoran-kun, I don't understand any of this. Why is this rain showing us things involving ourselves? And why did this happen to Elena-chan? I don't get it…." Tears welled up in the corners of Sakura's eyes and Shaoran, ever desperate to stop his beloved from crying, for to him it was the most heart rending sight he could think of, put his arm around Sakura and pulled her close to him. Sakura didn't resist and rested her head on Shaoran's chest, her hands wrapping about his torso. She sniffed a couple of times but the tears didn't fall. Shaoran looked out the window and asked himself the same questions Sakura had. None of it made sense.

"Elena-chan's awake!" The call from upstairs startled the two and they jumped to their feet and out of the tender embrace before hurrying up the stairs. Tomoyo noticed the slight blush fading from Sakura's cheeks and smiled; but otherwise didn't comment.

"Elena-chan! Are you okay?" Sakura asked, rushing over to the bed. The blonde girl was sitting up against a pile of stacked pillows while massaging her forehead.

"Yes, I'm fine now… the rain." Elena stated, looking out the windows opposite the bed towards the rain. "I figured something out who's making the rain when it fell on me yesterday; but unfortunately my senses are rather keen and they went into overdrive so it had an adverse affect on me and tired me out completely. There's power in this rain; and when it touches you, you see your past and perhaps even, your future. Right?" Elena asked this of Sakura and Shaoran. The two nodded, then Sakura remembered the image of her holding a baby and Shaoran standing beside her and blushed heavily.

"Elena-chan, h-how do you know that's the future?" Sakura blurted the question out a little too loudly and Shaoran, realising that Sakura had also seen a vision involving the two of them, blushed too, and turned to stare fixedly at a rather bland painting on the wall next to the door.

"The caster of the rain is a being we call 'Fate'. It has many names but that is the most common and well known name that it goes by. It resides in some space in between worlds where no one is supposed to be able to reach it, nor can it actually leave that area. Unfortunately Fate likes to play with the lives of mortals and sends troubles to plague them and so entertaining it. Fate can see the futures of everyone and can manipulate them, forcing them to make different choices should it want to. This rain is caused by Fate and it's drenching this city in magic." Elena paused, leaning back on the pillows as if more of her strength had been drained.

"Why would this Fate want to do this though? It hasn't actually done anything except cause magic users see what could be the future and cause you to enter this state, which I don't understand either." Shaoran put in, looking away from the painting. Elena smiled weakly.

"Magic users often have specialities in their magic. Destruction, restoration, protection, manipulation, necromancy… the list goes on and on. One of my specialities is simply a heightened sense of magic. I can sense magic nearby and understand it faster than anybody else I know. With so much magic about it's overloading my head and when that rain fell on me it would be the equivalent to someone hitting you with cast iron rods; but it's all mental, in the head." Elena tapped her head, and then winced at having done so and pushed herself back into a sitting position.

"The thing with Fate is that it likes to toy with us mortals; but it gets very angry when people with strong wills change their own destinies beyond those that it decided for that person. Most of these people are magic users; but many are not and Fate often tries to exact some kind of punishment on this person as if they were defying it. I suspect this rain has something to do with that. I don't understand it fully; but the entire town is becoming saturated with Fate's magic. Whatever it aims to do is probably going to be problematic for someone in the town; and I guess it's probably going to be one of us."

"Why don't you consult Imanda-san, he might know more about this?" Tomoyo suggested to Elena after a few minutes of silence as everyone dreamt up horrors that Fate might visit upon them. Elena sighed.

"I tried yesterday when we got back; but this downpour is blocking my magic, I can't connect to him at all."

"Can't you phone him or send him an e-mail?" Sakura asked but Elena shook her head.

"Phone calls and e-mails don't go between worlds." She said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. For a moment there was gob smacked silence then Shaoran and Sakura both leant forwards.

"What?" They demanded. Elena laughed for the first time in a while, her face brightening up somewhat.

"I think it's time to come clean. Himie and I are from England, yes; but we're not from this world's England. One of our abilities it to cross between worlds. Fate doesn't like us for it because it's a power it doesn't have; and it can't control our destinies at all. Himie sensed something was up and suggested it was time I came and saw Tomoyo-chan again and I was all too happy to do so. It had been so long and I wanted to see how things had changed." Elena grinned at Tomoyo who smiled back, completely unphased to the revelation.

"You knew, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, shocked. Tomoyo nodded and smiled.

"Yes, although I always thought it meant something else until Elena-chan suddenly appeared again in England when I was there; and after the whole affair with the Clow Cards I didn't doubt her anymore. That's why I wasn't overly surprised when I found out about Kero-chan and the Clow Cards." The mention of Keroberos startled Sakura.

"Oh, Kero-chan, maybe he can tell us something about all this?" Sakura suggested, pulling out the cell phone Tomoyo had given her. It was one of a few her mother's company produced and could only be linked to a few locations, or at least the first models were like that, this model was just like any other cell phone. The ringing started and then the phone picked up.

"'Eya who's calling?" The Osakan accident blared out through the speaker.

"Kero-chan, have you felt anything weird about the rain?" Sakura asked.

"Ah, Sakura! I thought you were at school today? And the rain? I just thought it was a little heavier than usual, why?" Sakura sighed; once again Keroberos was not as useful as she had hoped.

"School was closed early today because of the rain. And Elena-chan says that the rain's caused by Fate." There was a pause on the line then Keroberos exploded.

"Fate? What'ya talking about? Where are you anyway if you're not at school?" He demanded, blurting out the three questions. Sakura held the phone away from her ear as the sound blasted out.

"We're at Tomoyo-chan's house. Maybe if you come he-" The sound of glass breaking and a ferocious roar came through the phone.

"Kero-chan? Kero-chan!" Sakura cried into the phone. Her raised voice dragged the attention of the others towards her.

"What's wrong?" Shaoran asked, Sakura shook her head, listening to the sounds of roaring and biting, the sounds of things breaking from the other side of the phone.

"I don't know. There was a sound like a window breaking and a roar and Kero-chan stopped talking." The sounds stopped and there was the sound of panting before Keroberos' voice came through the phone once again; but this time the voice of his larger form.

"Sakura, are you still there?" He asked. His voice was filled with pain.

"Kero-chan! Are you alright?" Sakura asked.

"I'll be fine. Something just came through the window and attacked me. It's like a man but with fur and a wolf's head and claws. I think there are more, I'll head over to you now, have the window open but keep a look out." There was a click as the Beast of the Seal hung up. Sakura sighed and put the phone down.

"What's going on?" Shaoran asked. Sakura's face practically had 'worried' written all over it.

"Kero-chan said he was attacked by something like a half man half wolf. He sounded like he'd been hurt." Sakura's eyes filled with tears again at the thought of her close friend having been injured and Shaoran's arm was around her again, comfortingly.

"A worg." Elena's voiced made them all look up; she was staring thoughtfully at the patch of bed in front of her. "A worg." She repeated before she looked up at them.

"I get it now! Worgs can be half man, half wolf. Usually they retain human stature but are otherwise wolf-like. They're very sensitive to magic, being born from it themselves; but they were all captured and sealed away years ago. I think Fate released them on this world then drenched this place in magic to act as a beacon to them all."

"So what, these things are all coming here?" Shaoran demanded and Elena acknowledged the point with a nod of her head.

"That's what Fate wanted. Fate can't do things by itself so it has to use roundabout methods. In this case, it's sending worgs here to do the dirty work; and they're simply monsters with the instinct to kill; and they tend to seek out people with magic first. As Beast of the Seal, Keroberos is a strong lure since he was created from magic. Also he was where Sakura-chan lives which will retain a lot of her power from just her being there. Once they've gone there they'll go for the place with the next highest concentration of magic…." Sakura had stood up and gone to the window where she stared outside.

There were shadows crawling through the grounds towards the house. Suddenly a shadow leapt up onto the balcony outside the window, smashing a table aside with one large, furry and clawed paw and padded over to the window. The worg stared at Sakura on the other side of the glass then howled to its brethren. Sakura screamed and the others turned to see the worg standing right in front of her on the other side of the glass.

"Sakura!" Shaoran yelled, diving forwards, pulling the beads out of his pocket which formed into his sword.

The worg's paw rose and fell onto the glass, smashing it and falling towards Sakura with blinding speed. The shards of glass fell on Sakura, one of them cutting into her hand but she didn't notice because the clawed paw was looming ever closer to her head, claws outstretched.

"Sakura!" Shaoran screamed, knowing he would be too late.

The paw fell.


	4. Chapter 3

**Note: **Next chapter could be as late as next weekend. Aion Closed Beta #5 is active from tonight, 20:00 GMT time and I'm not going to miss out on any play time during this beta.

**C**hapter 3

Sakura screamed as the claw crashed through the glass, the shards flying towards her. She fell back, shielding her face with her arm as the claw reached towards her amidst a shower of glass.

A quick flash, a rush of wind preceded by a piercing howl of pain. Shaoran landed by Sakura's side, wrapped one arm around her under her arms and leapt back again, holding her still. She was crying in fear and pain, some of the glass shards had lodged in her skin and now that the adrenaline was fading the pain came in full force. Elena had leapt out of the bed with renewed energy and was smiling as if she couldn't see Sakura's pain and that they weren't all in danger; and Tomoyo was running to Sakura's side with an expression that seemed as if she shared the girl's pain.

"Himie!" Elena cried out and Shaoran looked up to see a dark figure in the window, his back to them, facing out into the night, for an unnatural night had descended on them, the moon risen in the sky and the sun sunken behind the hills. In his right hand he held a longsword that shined a bright blue, whether from the moonlight reflecting off the blade or by some other form it was unclear.

The worg had retreated several paces to the end of the balcony, crouching and glaring at the dark figure; splatters of a glittering and dark liquid followed it in a trail to a large pool spreading below the creature.

"I do say Ellie; you appear to be in a spot of trouble." The figure said in English, half turning his head and flashing a grin behind him at the group. "There's a few more of these beasties around the place. I bumped a few off on my way here but I think I attracted the rest here so we're in for a bit of sport, I daresay." Again, this was said in English and all but Elena had no idea what the figure was saying.

"What did he say?" Shaoran demanded of Elena.

"Ah yes, you don't speak any English do you Li-san? Leaving introductions to a more appropriate time, there are a few more of these monsters heading over here. They're nothing much as long as you're prepared." The figure said, now in Japanese, as the wounded wog leapt at him, growling with jaw open ready for a bone crunching snap. Remarkably, the figure stepped forwards and lunged with his weapon, the steel sliding through into the beast's jaw; and then continuing until his arm was inside the beast's gaping mouth up to the elbow. The worg was silent and fell to the ground at the figure's feet, as the victorious swordsman yanked his sword free and stepped out onto the balcony.

Shaoran stood up, sword at the ready but the figure shook his head and held an open palm out towards him in a halting gesture.

"No, my friend. I do not doubt your courage or skills, indeed I rather admire them but you must stay here and protect the girls." The figure turned, stepped onto the balcony and leapt out into the night that had erupted into the howls as the predators became the prey.

"I don't need protecting at all and you know it! Oh dear, my head…." With that, Elena's sudden surge of energy faded and she toppled over off the side of the bed to thump on the floor, back into her exhausted slumber.

"We're a mess." Shaoran said as he lay down his sword and helped Sakura to lean against the foot of the bed and looked at her arms. Luckily the rest of the glass had evaded her and her blazer sleeves had lessened the force behind the shards of glass; but even so it was hurting her and it was plain to see, for despite her attempts to hide it, Sakura couldn't help but let a whimper escape her lips and tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I'll get the first aid kit from downstairs." Tomoyo said and hurried away in search of the bag. Shaoran held one of Sakura's hands in his and tried to comfort her.

"It'll be alright. Daidouji will get some bandages and we'll fix you up and it'll all be fine. Okay?" Sakura smiled weakly and nodded before another stab of pain shot up her arm and she lurched forwards, crying out. "Sakura!" Shaoran leaned forwards and gathered the trembling girl into his arms, carefully avoiding the glass shards. He gritted his teeth, frustrated. There was nothing he could do, again.

* * *

"I'll help with that." The dark figure had returned, stepping into the room so that the light revealed him properly. His shoes crunched on the broken glass and he looked down, muttering something. The glass rose up and flew to the window, reversing the damage done. The shards tugged free of Sakura's arms, causing blood to flow more freely and as the glass came free she cried out in renewed pain as the wounds were worried.

Tomoyo ran in through the door holding a first aid kit but the boy, for the dark figure had been a boy their own age, waved her away.

"We can apply those afterwards. I'll clean and close the wounds with magic, and then you can bandage her up to stop the wounds from re-opening." The boy knelt down at Sakura's side and smiled kindly. "My name is Imanda Himura. Give me your hand and I shall heal your wounds." He held a hand out in offering but Sakura looked to Shaoran first who slowly nodded.

"Do it Sakura, we can trust him." Shaoran said and Sakura obediently took the boy's hand, trying her hardest not to cry out in pain again. The boy held a hand above the middle of Sakura's lower arm and a green light showered down from his hand and onto the wounds and, before their eyes, the wounds slowly closed up to leave fresh scars. Himura did the same with Sakura's other arm and then stood up.

"There we go, the rest of the healing you'll have to do on your own; but as long as you don't scrape them open again you should be fine. The bandages will help with stopping that from happening. Now where's Ellie gone?" Himura muttered, glancing behind the bed to see the unconscious Elena. He frowned in worry for the first time, walking forwards and collecting the girl in his arms and laying her back on the bed. He touched a hand to her forehead and sighed.

"It seems her mind's gone into overload. As long as this rain hangs about she'll be fainting all over the place." He glanced out of the now fixed window and up at the dark sky.

Himura was tall, maybe a little taller than Shaoran, with blonde hair and kind, ice blue eyes. His skin was pale; but less so than Elena's, with a slight tan that hinted at past adventures in sunnier lands. The boy before them was their age; but he exuded an aura of wisdom and experience, as if he had lived many more years than it first seemed.

"Th-thank you." Sakura said, unsure of how to greet this mysterious boy. Himura seemed to break out of some reverie and his blue eyes turned to smile warmly at Sakura.

"No need to thank me, although I would like a favour in return, if you don't mind." He smiled winningly and Sakura just nodded, completely won over by the boy's easy nature. Shaoran glared accusingly at him but Himura seemed not to notice.

"Would you mind using the Windy card and blowing these clouds apart? They'll break up into nothing once first spread apart."

"How do you know about the Cards?" Sakura asked. Everyone who showed up seemed to know about them now; and that she was the new owner. The fact that she might be famous among magicians scared her; she just wanted to live as normally as possible with Shaoran.

"Ellie and I are… a little different to most people, shall we say? Ellie can see bonds between people, her magical senses and intuition are unmatched and she herself is skilled in the use of various forms of magic. I'm a little different, my dreams are often foretelling; but not of my own future but of others. A few months ago I saw that you would be in danger from these creatures so I sent Ellie to help you; but things changed. In any case, I saw you use the old Clow Cards, now Sakura Cards and I did some research. You're fairly well known as the new owner of the Cards; and as supposedly the most powerful sorcerer now alive."

Himura stood up, stretching. Suddenly he seemed tired as his body relaxed a little from the pent up tension in his muscles of battle and he sighed, sitting on the bed and moving a strand of Elena's hair out of her face gently.

"In any case, I can tell you more but I'd like to free Ellie from this state first, it pains me to see her in any kind of difficulty so if you could clear these clouds, I think we'll all feel a little safer and more at ease." Sakura nodded and made to stand but Shaoran stood first and helped her up, acting as a leaning post as the girl climbed unsteadily to her feet. She wavered a little before going back to lean on Shaoran.

"I don't know if I should use the Cards right now." Sakura said uncertainly, swaying. Himura nodded understandingly.

"Yes, I thought that might be the case. There is another way, though. The Cards are thought to be useable only by their master; but that's a misunderstanding."

"No one else but Sakura can use them, though." Shaoran interrupted, Himura's wise eyes turned upon him.

"That's true, since Sakura-san hasn't willed the Cards to be used by anyone else." Himura replied knowingly; but Shaoran wasn't going to give up just yet.

"What do you mean by that?" He demanded of the blonde boy.

"Sakura-san is the master of the Cards. That means they obey only her, not that they can be used only by her. There is a slight difference." Himura's smiled turned on Sakura who was still confused.

"Hoe?" Sakura's confused sound appeared again, a sign of her slow recovery from her shocking experience with the worg.

"You mean that if Sakura asked a Card to be used by someone else then it could be used by that person?" Shaoran said, understanding now. Himura nodded.

"Exactly. However there's a slight hitch. It can't just be anyone, it has to be someone that Sakura-san is familiar with, that she has a strong conscious bond to and the person must have a similar bond to her. Basically, Li-san, you are the only person other than Sakura-san herself who can use the Cards; but only if Sakura-san asks the Cards to be used by you."

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a best landing on the balcony outside. There was a familiar roar and Sakura twisted in Shaoran's arms to stare out into the night.

"Kero-chan!" She cried in delight. The Beast of the Seal padded up to the window and stared through into the room. He raised a paw to smash the glass but suddenly Himura was at the window, pulling open a small door in the expanse of glass.

"Let's avoid causing more injuries via glass, shall we?" He suggested, motioning for Keroberos to come through the door.

* * *

"Who's the kid?" Keroberos asked once he had entered the room and was sitting in front of the bed. Shaoran and Sakura sat on the end of the bed and Himura stood a few feet away, admiring a painting while Tomoyo was out of the room, searching for a maid that probably needed calming down after all the commotion.

"My name is Imanda Himura. You won't be familiar with my lineage, as it does not exist in this world; but I come from a line of distinguished sorcerers and am currently the head of my household." Himura introduced himself. "And the girl sleeping on the bed is Mithran Elena; she also has many ancestors who were powerful magicians." Himura turned back to looking at the painting, although it was quite clear he wasn't really seeing it.

"Anyway, Sakura, what happened?" Keroberos asked, already forgetting about the blonde boy or seemingly so at least.

"One of those worg things came and smashes the window. Imanda-san… killed it but the glass still hit me." Sakura held up her throbbing arms to show the bandages. She had stuttered slightly on her recounting of events, realising that Himura had actually slain a living being and being the person she was, it shocked her. Himura seemed to notice this and turned away from the wall, walking towards the group.

"I'm sure Keroberos knows a great deal about these monsters; but suffice to say that they are a creation by Fate and are used only to hunt and kill for her amusement. Beings made from magic, they are not truly living." He sat down on the floor, crossing his legs with ease.

"He's right, Sakura. Don't feel sad for it, I had hoped things like these would not appear." Keroberos' head drooped.

"I'm afraid it won't be the last of such attacks, either." Himura put in, drawing all attention to him. "Fate has decided that you'll be the source of her amusement from now on, that means she will send more and more powerful beings after you, cause you as much distress and sorrow as possible and so cause you pain. Fate is a monster itself, it takes delight from hurting others, even though it claims to have no emotion, although I know that it can fear and also hate." Himura sighed, tilting his head back and looking at the ceiling.

"In any case, we need to get rid of these clouds. Thwarting Fate's attempts to get at you is our priority. Ellie and I shall stay around until we're sure you're safe before moving elsewhere. Eventually Fate will become tired of a quarry that it cannot affect and will find another; but Ellie can't do anything with these clouds about." Himura glanced at the sleeping girl who was curled up on the bed behind Sakura before back at the couple before him.

"I don't have the Sakura Cards with me though; I haven't taken them with me since nothing's happened for a while." Sakura said, slightly sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it! I brought them with me after that thing came into your room." Keroberos said, opening his mouth. Slowly a stream of glowing cards left his mouth to form in a pile in front of him. As he moved, his belly could be seen more clearly and Sakura caught sight of the long gash across it.

"Kero-chan!" She cried, rushing forwards and kneeling by him. "You're hurt, why didn't you say?" Sakura demanded. Keroberos hung his head, now that his small secret was revealed.

"It's just a scratch; and it'll heal while I'm in my smaller form." He said; and as he did his wings stretched out and formed around him, changing him into his smaller, plush-toy-like form.

"Don't push yourself, okay?" Sakura asked, catching the Beast of the Seal and holding him in her hands. The small Keroberos nodded his head and flew down to stand beside the Cards.

"Here are the Cards. Although I don't think ya should be using them really." He said, his plush toy features forming into a very slight frown.

"Imanda-san had an idea for that." Sakura said, looking to the blonde boy who nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure you know about this too, Keroberos. The Master of the Cards can ask that they allow themselves to be used by another, right?" Keroberos stared at the boy before nodding.

"Yeah… that should work. How come you know so much about the Cards?" He asked suspiciously, Himura laughed light heartedly.

"I've seen a lot of magic so far in my life, I can figure out things work." He said. Sakura was still completely unaware of this boy's power; but Shaoran had an idea of it. He could sense a carefully hidden but huge body of magical power inside the boy and his sword skills from earlier had proved him to be a well trained fighter as well, not to mention that he had already showed himself to be highly intelligent, Keroberos had also seen some of this and frowned, saying nothing.

"It will only work if it's someone close to Sakura though, so you couldn't do it." Keroberos said, Himura chuckled again while shaking his head.

"Oh, you misunderstand. It's not me I was thinking of at all. It was Li-san. He is the only one with a strong enough bond to Sakura-san for him to be able to use the Cards." Keroberos glared at Shaoran who glared back and then sighed in exasperation.

"Well I guess the kid is the only one who can. Although I can't say I agree with Sakura's choice."

"Kero-chan!" Sakura yelled angrily and Keroberos backed away nervously from the fiery anger.

"How do we do this, then?" Shaoran asked Himura, not Keroberos who noticed the deliberate posing of the question to the blonde boy and fumed.

"Sakura-san simply needs to ask the Cards to allow themselves to be used by you. You could even go as far as to ask them to allow a dual ownership but I'm not sure that we should try that right now." Himura said, Keroberos nodded his head vigorously in agreement, trying to regain some of his standing.

Sakura picked up the Cards and held them up in a fan so that she could see each and every one of them. They felt warm in her hands; she could feel the individual Cards swarming to her touch, greeting her. She closed her eyes as she found it easier to commute with the Cards this way.

_Please, I'm too hurt to you any of you but we need to clear the clouds away to help Elena-chan. Please, allow Shaoran-kun to use you._

The simple message seemed to have an effect for the Cards began to glow until they were normal once again. Sakura put them down and picked out Windy and held it out to Shaoran, then stopped when she saw the back of the Card.

"It changed!" She exclaimed. Himura and Keroberos leaned in to look at it.

"Oh? Seems that the Cards share your trust for Li-san and have willingly gone into a dual ownership." Himura said. The back of the Card had changed so that half of the Card was Pink whereas the other half was Green. Shaoran held out his and took hold of the other end of the card and the Card flashed at his touch. Sakura relinquished the card and Shaoran stood up, unsealing his sword from the beads and threw the Card up into the air.

"**Windy**!" He called out its name, touching his sword tip to the card. Windy took form, flying out of the Card and waited in front of them.

"Please, clear the clouds away!" Sakura pleaded. Windy nodded and, with a smile, turned and flew through the window and out into the night. The clouds slowly began to break up as Windy flew between them and broke them up. Within minutes the clouds had completely disappeared and sunlight returned to the world. Windy returned to the Card and flew to Shaoran who then returned the Card to Sakura.

There was a yawn and Elena sat up on the bed behind them, stretching.

"Finally, that presence has completely gone. I feel a lot better now. Himie!" Elena, catching sight of Himura again, leapt forwards and hugged him tightly, Himura returned the affection and gave the blonde girl a kiss on the cheek.

"Sorry for sending you into such trouble." Himura said, lapsing back into English.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine now that you're here." Elena said, nuzzling against her dearest one.

Sakura and Shaoran turned away from the scene, embarrassed. Sakura glanced at the Card in her hand and realised that she and Shaoran really did have a strong bond, a bond between their souls that enabled them to pull strength from one another. Shaoran, similar thoughts running through his mind, turned to look at the love of his life to find she was staring back at him. Sakura leant into his ready embrace and moved in closer to him, laying her head on his chest.

"I love you, Shaoran-kun." She murmured. Shaoran smiled, caressing her hair.

"I love you too, Sakura."

* * *

In its own world, Fate stared at the scenes of love and was disgusted at the happiness it saw. It had aimed to hurt, distress and cause pain but instead had only seemed to have brought the couples together more; and had even unlocked a new power between Shaoran and Sakura.

It was time to move onto the next plan.


	5. Chapter 4

**C**hapter 4

The next day school returned to normal. Homeroom had started for Shaoran's and Sakura's class; the teacher calling out the register. Upon finishing, the teacher put the board down on his desk and clapped his hands to call for silence and attention.

"I have an announcement!" He called, waiting for silence. Finally getting it, he turned his head to face the door. "Come in!" He said loudly and the door slid open and a blonde haired, blue eyed boy walked into the room and stopped next to the teacher; turning the face the class.

"Good morning. I'm Imanda Himura, from England. I give my best regards for the year." The boy said, bowing slightly. Immediately the class erupted into applause. Girls chattered amongst themselves as they admired their new classmate and the boys stared cautiously at the boy. He was a handsome young man and they feared for the loss of their girlfriends.

"There's a free space next to the window." The teacher said, pointing to a desk near the back of the classroom. Himura dutifully stepped down from the raised platform at the front of the room and took his seat, greeting his new neighbours with a smile as he sat.

"Regarding the heavy rains from the past two days; the school timetable may be a little erratic this week and the school board has warned that we are to be on a weather warning as more bad weather is meant to be on the way."

The teacher moved onto other topics of the school's running but they all faded into the background for Sakura who, staring out of the window, saw a distant thunder cloud.

* * *

The group of friends assembled near the windows at the rear of the classroom and watched the approaching storm clouds. Himura, caught up in the attention of being the newest member of the class was unable to attend the small discussion.

"Does this mean more of those things will show up?" Sakura asked Elena who was frowning at the clouds.

"I don't know. Those clouds are different. We need to talk to Himie about this really. Unfortunately he's the knowledgeable one, I'm the one who senses the problem and he figures it out. Incidentally, those clouds appeared early last night. I headed out to have a look last night; but I couldn't."

"What do you mean?" Shaoran asked. Elena tore her gaze away from the clouds and sighed.

"There's some very powerful magic blocking my senses. When I got too close my senses went numb, I couldn't use them at all so I didn't dare go further." The others turned to stare at the unforgiving clouds, a malevolent blotch on the skyline.

"Can't we do anything except wait to ask Himura-san?" Sakura asked, unconsciously holding her arms to her chest. The bandages were concealed by her blazer which Himura had fixed the night before disappearing as mysteriously as he had come. Elena nodded her head firmly.

"Himie has been fighting against Fate for so long that he'll know what's going on. We can't do anything careless or we'll end up getting ourselves into deep trouble. Having said that, I think Himie and I can't stay too long. We're always needed elsewhere."

"What do you mean? You make it sound like you're here because of a job." Shaoran said, now curious. Elena shook her head as if she had said something she shouldn't have.

"Never mind, it's not important. I'm sure Himie will tell you when the time is right. For now just think of us as your protectors, it's easier that way." There was a deep rumbling that shook the window panes, causing an eerie silence to settle across the classroom. Everyone stared out at the clouds and the intercom buzzed; but no one listened to it, they were already moving to pick up their bags and leave.

* * *

"So what do you think, Imanda?" Shaoran asked Himura as soon as they were out of the throng of students leaving the school hurriedly, eager to be in the safety of their own homes. Himura said nothing for a moment before speaking, choosing his words carefully.

"Those clouds are a mask, a deception. Elena's senses are clouded but the spirits in the Earth are warning me of a great power nearby. A being shrouded with a black cape and with a scythe. In other words, a wraith." Himura stopped for a moment, his brow creased in thought.

"I have an idea about all this; and how to end it. Ellie, stay with Sakura-san and Tomoyo-san. Li-san, if you would come with me." Himura turned to go but Shaoran's hand fell on his shoulder.

"I don't want to leave Sakura unprotected. If Mithran is knocked out by this storm like she was before and with this wraith thing around then Sakura will be in danger." Himura turned around, brushing Shaoran's hand off is shoulder gently.

"Li-san, Ellie was never unconscious before." Himura said with a mischievous smile.

"What? But Elena-chan seemed to hurt and couldn't move before!" Sakura exclaimed. Himura glanced at Elena who shrugged.

"It was part of Himie's plan. He knew something was after you so he sent me ahead of him and I pretended to be a lot weaker than I am to draw the enemy out, then Himie showed up and made it seem like he was the only one with a lot of power. Li-kun and Sakura-chan both have a lot of power now, as it is shared between them. However over a distance that won't be as strong so if we split up it makes Sakura-chan and I an inviting target." Shaoran glanced at Himura.

"Bait. I don't like the idea of using Sakura as bait for an enemy who's so powerful they can hide their presence."

"Oh, it's Fate itself. Right now I'm blocking off its powers of sight so it can't find out our plans. Ellie can hold Fate off by herself, with Sakura-san backing her up they will be quite safe, I can assure you of that. Besides, if there's the slightest hint of Sakura-san being injured you can rush back if you wish. This is just a plot to draw Fate out and end this." Himura said. His hands glowed a gentle blue and he touched them to his chest, his clothes changing shape and form.

After the transformation was complete, Himura stood in his battle gear, black boots coming up to just below his knees with gold buckles up the side, simple white trousers with a belt of dark brown leather and a white vest. To complete the ensemble: a white jacket with a broach at the neck. On the back of the jacket a gold dragon was emblazoned, writhing up from his left him to poke just over his right shoulder, the green eyes glaring out at people from his shoulder. The curiously glowing sword from the previous night was sheathed in a red leather scabbard hung across Himura's back, a silk sash of sky blue was pulled over his head to fall across his chest diagonally, attached to the butt and head of the scabbard.

The scabbard itself was beautiful, richly decorated with golden filigree up the entire length with a steel tip, a small coat of arms decorated this tip although the detail could not be seen except under a magnifying glass. The same coat of arms was displayed on Himura's jacket, above his heart and this one was far clearer. Although the symbol was very simple with a lion facing a dragon, a dividing red line between them down the centre of the shield.

Elena repeated Himura's gesture and her clothes transformed as well but her coat of arms was different. A simple red rose with arrows small in the background. Across her back an unstrung bow hung in a case. She had no quiver or arrow bag; and a sister sword to Himura's hung at her hip.

"Time to split up then, I think. Ellie and Sakura-san, go to a wide open area where no one will be affected by any fighting; and keep your senses open. Li-san, you and I will head to the thunder clouds and disperse them. If you take the Windy card with you then that will make things easier but be ready, it won't be such a simple task as last time."

"What about Tomoyo-chan? If it's dangerous then she'll have to go with someone, I don't want her to be alone if anything comes for her!" Sakura cried out, Himura turned and smiled, gesturing at the mysterious extra bag Tomoyo had carried with her all day.

"I believe Tomoyo-san already knows what she's going to do; and has done ever since I started talking about this plan. Am I right?" He asked Tomoyo who returned the smile.

"You are very observant, Imanda-san." She said, chuckling. With that, Himura turned and leapt up unto the wall surrounding the park. Shaoran followed, they nodded before Himura disappeared into the foliage. Shaoran turned once and looked down at three girls; but only saw Sakura who stared up at him. He gave her a reassuring smile before he too turned and disappeared into the foliage.


	6. Chapter 5

**Note: **Apologies for the later delay. Lots of things going on (heck, it's summer!) and also I was watching Hayate no Gotoku so I was side tracked a little. Nearly the end, of course you can probably all guess how this is going to play out, so I'll have to make something different just to ruin your expectations! Look forward to it

**C**hapter 5

Tomoyo pressed the bag she had been holding into Sakura's arms and smiled.

"It's been a few years since we've had a real situation like this; but I had some clothes ready for you a long time ago. I changed the size a little as you grew so I think they'll still fit."

"Tomoyo-chan! Can't you go somewhere safe? I don't want you to be in danger because you're near us." Sakura protested but Tomoyo's smile didn't even waver.

"I would go into danger just so I could watch you come out victorious in the clothes I made for you, Sakura-chan." She said. As per usual, her utter sincerity struck Sakura silent and she accepted the bag containing a costume without further complaint.

"Now, you need to get changed so we need to stop off somewhere before we head off properly." Elena said, Sakura nodded, holding the bag up when a thought struck her.

"It's bright daylight though! Someone's bound to see us all!" Visions of rumours spreading through the school like wild fire about her like to cosplay or dress up like a little girl sprang to her mind and just from the thought her cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Everyone in the town is already asleep." Elena revealed, glancing up at the sky.

"Eh?!" Sakura exclaimed. Elena looked at Sakura as if to ask why she was so surprised.

"Fate is nearby so of course they all fell asleep; Fate does not like to be seen by mortal man." Elena said, glancing at Tomoyo. "Aren't you glad I gave you that necklace, Tomoyo-chan?" She asked with a grin, Tomoyo nodded, holding up a golden necklace she was wearing about her neck. On the end hung the solid gold form of a dragon, the same one that appeared on the English couple's clothing.

"Yes; because of it I have another chance to film Sakura-chan's adventures again!" She cried happily, an expensive and sophisticated looking video camera springing into her hands from nowhere.

"Now, let's stop tarrying and get going!" Elena exclaimed, marching off with the other two girls in tow.

* * *

"Are you sure this will work out?" Shaoran demanded of Himura who was a long way ahead. He had realised that they still knew barely anything about this mysterious English couple who knew far more than they were saying and he didn't entirely trust them, for all their smiles and friendliness.

"If I didn't, I would have challenged Fate to an outright duel. This way we have more chance of success. Well, that's not strictly true. More a chance of success with no fatalities." Himura replied over his shoulder, leaping out up into the sky; and then he seemed to stand on it. "Come on then!" He called down to Shaoran who pulled out one of his mysterious pieces of paper with characters written on them. In recent years they had fluctuated between Japanese and Chinese characters before settling on Japanese, a language he was more used to using.

He cast the spell and a carpet of wind formed below him and carried him up to Himura's level.

"Okay, the clouds are right up ahead. Just cast Windy and I'll do my part too. Be careful of the lightning; don't get hit whatever you do." He then flew towards the sky. He had cast no visible spell and had not grown wings; he just simply seemed to be able to fly. Shaoran followed on his platform of magic until they were under the clouds.

Lightning bolts shot down all around them, or rather at them. Shaoran barely dodged many, one even passed close enough for him to feel the blast of it and for a tingle of stray electrons crackling through his hair. Then another shot close enough to send a jolt through him, temporarily breaking his concentration.

Almost as if the clouds sensed his momentary weakness, in fact they probably did; and a lightning bolt shot out directly at Shaoran. He didn't have even nearly enough time to dodge it and could only watch as it blasted towards him, tearing the sky asunder. Suddenly a shadow fell across him and there was a shrieking sound as the bolt struck whatever had made the shadow.

Shaoran shielded his eyes from the shining light with his sleeve and when it was finally over he lowered his arm to see what remained of his saviour. He was shocked to see Himura standing there, smoke rising from his hand but he otherwise seemed unharmed.

"I told you to be careful, now come on; we can't hang about in here." Himura said, as if he hadn't just nullified one of the most powerful forces nature had to throw at humanity with apparent ease.

Shaoran followed Himura up to the centre of the clouds with renewed concentration. This boy was more than he seemed, he was ridiculously powerful and he hid that strength very well. Knowing that Elena, who must be of the same calibre as Himura, was with Sakura made Shaoran less distracted.

They emerged into a world of low vision and constant flashes. The very air seemed saturated with powerful magic and the air itself seemed to crackle with energy, in fact it probably was.

"Let's hurry, Fate's moving already." Himura said, holding his right up straight up to point further up into the sky, the other across his chest as if to create a backwards L shape. He closed his eyes and suddenly a powerful wind began to kick up around him, the clouds almost instantly began to disperse in all directions.

Shaoran used the Windy card and sped up the process and before the long the clouds had been so broken up by the dual winds that there was not even a trace of them on the horizons.

"That's done," Himura said, relaxing his posture and opening his eyes, "Now to go save the damsels." He said, flashing a grin at Shaoran. Then he was already in motion, shooting down to the ground with Shaoran close behind him.

* * *

Now dressed in her combat suit, Sakura stood as Tomoyo circled around her, taking shots from several angles at the embarrassed girl.

"Wow, you're a good seamstress, Tomoyo-chan! It looks like it fits perfectly!" Elena said appreciatively, peering keenly at the clothes. Tomoyo chuckled with pleasure at the compliment, her face gleaming as she engaged in one of her favourite activities, filming her dearest friend wearing clothes Tomoyo had made for her.

The suit itself was quite restrained for Tomoyo, no bunny ears or cat's tails or bells. In fact, the suit was remarkably similar to the one Sakura had worn when capturing the Sealed Card with a few more flamboyant changes. For starters the coat tails were longer, adjusted to Sakura's new height; and there was a great deal more embroidery. Golden stitching swirled patterns up from the two coat tails to tie together and form a cherry blossom in the small of Sakura's back before heading along the elongated sleeves and down to the cuffs, now at Sakura's wrists. The hat had a similar pattern starting from the back of the accessory around to the front where the embroidery once again joined together in the shape of cherry blossom.

"Since I didn't get to film you when you wore the costume I re-made it and enhanced it a little." Tomoyo said, explaining the similarity, she seemed immensely satisfied with the result; and for good reason too, it was a masterpiece that rivalled pieces made by professional seamstresses.

"Time to find a more convenient place to do this then." Elena said.

"No time like the present." A gravely, dark voice rumbled. The entire world seemed to become darker as the words echoed around them. Before the sentence had been finished Elena had already grabbed her bow, strung it and formed a magical arrow made of blue energy, nocked with the string pulled right back to her cheek.

Before them floated their enemy, Fate. It looked like a wraith, no matter how you looked at it. It even held a scythe in one, bony hand. Inside the cloak was just darkness, two yellow eyes glaring out.

"It may look like an ordinary, run of the mill wraith; but it's not. Don't let your guard down." Elena said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper. Her eyes were locked onto Fate, her right eye staring down the magical arrow shaft. Fate cackled, raising It's scythe.

"It hardly matters. You know, Lady Mithran, that only Lord Imanda is capable of fighting with me on equal terms; and he is not here at this moment to save you this time. So just lie still while I finally change your destiny for my amusement." The scythe swung, Elena disappeared. Sakura cast Fly with a cry and grabbed Tomoyo before flapping into the air. She circled around Fate who was occupied with Elena who darted around with impossible speed, arrows flying at the wraith from all directions but seeming to do nothing but irritate the monstrous being. Sakura set Tomoyo down a safe distance away.

"Make sure you come back safely." Tomoyo said, holding onto Sakura's arm. Sakura nodded.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely be alright." She said, smiling and flying off towards the battle.

* * *

"Fate's engaged them, let's hurry!" Himura said urgently, increasing his pace. Shaoran did so as well, going beyond his normal limits. This time, they were in real trouble if things didn't go as planned; and he wasn't prepared to let that happen.

Up ahead, Himura smiled as he felt the power roll of Shaoran with his heightened emotions.

_That's the way, things will be fine if everyone's this determined._


	7. Chapter 6

**Note:** A new Aion beta starting up tonight so I worked on the details of this chapter most of today and finally wrote it up this afternoon. Prepare for the cliff hanger at the end, what is Fate's true form? Look forward to it!

**C**hapter 6

Elena crashed through the shop window but did not waste time sprawling in pain on the floor and instead used her momentum to roll back and jumped to her feet. Fate's scythe crashed through the shop ceiling to bury its point in the floor where Elena had been lying moments before.

"**Windy!**" Sakura's voice echoed through the otherwise silent world and cream coloured streams of air wrapped around Fate, constricting it. Elena used the brief moment of respite to leave the dubious protection of the shop and leapt out the window to join Sakura who was hovering in the air having used the Fly card.

"That won't hold It for longer. We need to find a better place to fight!" Elena called to Sakura who nodded her agreement and looked around, her mind racing. However, before she had a chance to find a suitable location Fate broke free of Windy's bonds and yanked Its scythe free before advancing on the two girls.

"I'll keep It distracted; you know the city better than I do!" Elena said, dropping her bow and instead unsheathing her sword. The blade glowed a deep blue and the air seemed to hum around it. Without another word she shot forwards to intercept the wraith speeding towards them.

Sakura looked around desperately; and then it came to her.

"The park!" She called down to Elena who was in the midst of parrying a series of fast jabs from the dangerous scythe. She showed no sign of agreement; but she had heard and counter attacked with swift and precise swipes and lunges, forcing the wraith back.

Suddenly Elena feinted a powerful haymaker blow and instead darted around Fate's side and shot off like a bullet towards the park that Sakura had indicated, following the other girl. Below them Tomoyo followed quickly with her video camera pressed to her eye, her expression was of both joy and worry, the battle did not seem to be going well.

* * *

"They're retreating to the park for a better place to fight, come on!" Himura shouted over his shoulder, abruptly stopping and turning sharply to take a path into the woods surrounding the park. Shaoran was on his heels in a matter of seconds and the two boys hurried along the paved path, the only sound their own heavy breathing.

The girls arrived first, quickly twisting around to find the wraith already upon them. The scythe swung down at Sakura who shrank back, unable to deflect the might weapon. Elena pushed the girl out of the way and partially deflecting the scythe but there had been too much momentum behind the weapon and it glanced off her sword blade to bury deep into her left shoulder.

Elena cried out in pain and pushed forwards with all her might, the wraith's weapon came free; but not without causing more damage as Fate angled the blade to rip through more skin before coming free. Elena wrapped her injured arm around Sakura, crying out as the pain flared up through her entire body; and leapt back to give them a few seconds of reprieve.

"Elena-chan!" Sakura ran forwards and knelt down by her injured friend who was crouching with her sword pointing towards their opponent; but her sword arm was wavering as the pain from her injured shoulder spread and became more intense.

"It's gotten stronger since last time, much stronger. We can't beat it by ourselves. Sakura-chan, go back into the woods and find the other two, you won't be safe if you stay here." Elena fell to one knee and dropped her sword, her right hand gripping her wounded shoulder, putting pressure on it to stop the blood flowing so freely and thickly down her limp arm, side and front, staining her white combat clothes.

"I can't leave you here! Hide in King Penguin; I'll hold It off until the other two get here." Sakura insisted, pushing Elena towards the supposed sanctuary but the blonde girl had a great deal of strength left in her.

"Go!" She barked the order and Sakura felt something take her body over, turn her around; and force her to run off into the woods, following the path towards where Elena had sensed the two boys.

* * *

"Trying to become a martyr, are you?" Fate hissed from inside Its rags. Elena slowly released her injured shoulder and picked up her weapon again, holding it up straight, gritting her teeth against the pain, using it to concentrate. "You know you cannot hold on for long, Lady Mithran." The voice was more quiet, sinister and sure. Many spoke of this as the voice of prophecy, Elena didn't take the bait, she wasn't prepared to fall apart here.

"I cannot beat you, that I grant you; but I can hold you here for long enough. It will save Sakura-chan from your horrors!" Elena screamed, rushing forwards and swinging her sword one handed, the steel meeting Fate's scythe in a clang of metal and a shower of sparks. Elena pressed forwards, a feral growl in the back of her throat. Fate cackled and pushed her away easily with the scythe, as if swatting a fly.

Elena had no time to attack again as Fate started a flurry of wide arcing slashes with Its scythe that she could barely react to let alone counter. After four successful parries and two narrow dodges Elena knew she was at her limit. Her vision was becoming hazy and she knew that four attacks ahead she would be unable to avoid the next move. Fate knew it too and sensed her resignation, howling in triumph and attacked ever more fiercely.

* * *

"Isn't that Sakura-san?" Himura asked, staring at the figure running towards them. Shaoran nodded and sped up to pass Himura. Sakura stumbled into his open arms, sobbing.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Shaoran asked, Sakura pointed down the path.

"Elena-chan... she used some kind of spell," she sobbed again, sniffled, then continued, "and sent me away. She was hurt and she sent me to you to be safe. I couldn't stop myself!" Sakura sank into Shaoran's embrace, her chest heaving as she cried.

"She used a type of magic called Free Magic to compel you to run. We don't have much time if she used it." Himura darted away, Shaoran had caught the worry that was barely hidden on his face.

"Come on, Sakura. We have to go help Mithran, crying won't do any good. Take us to her and we can save her, now let's hurry!" Sakura looked up at Shaoran, his smiling, confident face and wiped the tears away and nodded with new determination.

"Yeah!"

* * *

The last attack came, Elena ducked into a crouch, the scythe sailing inches above her head; but then Fate hauled the weapon towards Itself and Elena knew this was the one she couldn't avoid. Knowing this she dropped her sword and held one hand up, palm out, at Fate; and become muttering words of magic.

The Scythe ripped through her jacket, then her shirt, and then the blade was through her skin. Elena arched her spine as the blade pierced her lungs and then she was staring at three inches of the blade, the very tip of the scythe that had emerged out through her chest.

She screamed silently as she felt her life slipping away but she could still hurt Fate, a last thing to remember her by. Her right hand rose back up to face her enemy and Fate could now see that a blue orb was glowing brightly in front of her palm; and was growing in size. Then the orb shot from Elena's palm towards Fate and hit the wraith directly. There was an inhuman scream and the wraith was thrown back and toppled the climbing frame made of metal poles, throwing up a cloud of dust and dirt.

Elena's knees gave out and she fell to the ground, facing the woods. She stayed conscious just long enough to see the trio emerge from the woods and a weak smile crept across her face, she hadn't lost.

* * *

"Elena!" Himura shouted, seeing the blonde girl stretched out on the ground, a pool of blood spreading out around her, her face pale and her eyes glazing; and the scythe still protruding from her back. Himura sprinted forwards and slid to a halt in front of her, falling to his knees and picking Elena up. With a swipe of his hand he shattered the scythe blade and the weapon clanged to the ground.

Himura picked the helpless girl up and cradled her in his arms.

"It'll be alright. I'll heal you, don't you worry." Himura muttered, his body emitting a bright green glow that was a beacon of life in the otherwise frozen world.

"I know, Himie… you'll take care of me as… always…." Elena fell unconscious, her head lolling to the side. There was a rumble as Fate recovered from Elena's final attack and rose menacingly.

"Now you know pain, young Lord Imanda. In time I shall visit it upon you yourself; but for now I shall contend myself with breaking the hearts of this weak couple." Fate rose a hand to the sky and a new scythe shone before appearing in Its hand. Sakura stared at the dying Elena in shock, unable to believe it. Tears streamed down her face.

"Elena-chan!" She screamed, completely ignoring the world around her. Shaoran wrapped an arm around her waist and leapt away from Fate's attack. He shook Sakura to break her away from the sight.

"Sakura! We're still in danger here!" He shouted, finally snapping the girl out of shock. He could see the anger welling up in her now. Sakura was a hard girl to hurt, to put down, to make cry, to infuriate. Nothing angered and saddened her in equal measures as her friends being hurt.

_I couldn't save Elena-chan. She's dying because I don't have enough power, because I don't want to hurt this monster! If I don't fight it for real then Shaoran-kun will get hurt too; and Himura-san as well. I don't want to see that, **I don't want that!**_

"**Sword! Fly!**" Sakura cried, tears still flowing from her eyes but now of anger. The wings sprouted from her back once again and her staff changed into a sword. Sakura leapt forwards at Fate, now with the skills of a master swordsman. She swept Fate's attack away and lunged expertly into Fate's body. The sword sank into the cloak, and then out the other side, there seemed to be nothing in between. Fate swung a clawed, bony hand down towards Sakura but Shaoran was there, blocking it with the flat of his blade.

"It's not working! We need to use the more powerful offensive cards!" He grunted, finally pushing the hand away. The couple leapt away from the monster.

"**Fiery!**" Sakura cried, casting the Card, her staff still in sword form. Shaoran held up the Windy Card, it had come to his hand at his bidding.

"**Windy!**" He called, casting his Card. Fiery burst out of its card and swept towards Fate, Windy did the same and appeared behind Fiery, then merged with it to create a huge wave of fire that swept over the wraith. There was a high pitched scream and the monster twisted and turned burned by the flaming rags that hit It. Slowly the rags began to burn into ash and Fate tore off Its shroud and threw the burning mass to the ground, standing before them unveiled at last.

There was the beating of powerful wings and Sakura's two Guardians flew down from the sky with a cry of her name. Keroberos and Yue landed on either side of the couple, Keroberos by Sakura and Yue by Shaoran.

"So that's Fate." Keroberos muttered.

"You have revealed me… and unleashed all of my power."


	8. Chapter 7

**Note: **The finale has come!

**C**hapter 7

Fate's true form was before them; and it was not what anyone would have imagined; for Fate had a human form.

Fate was male; or at least seemed to be male. It had taken on the form of an aged man with long, wispy and white hair. Its face was heavily wrinkled with bushy eyebrows hooding glaring and angry eyes that were of a dark red pigment. For all the strength It had displayed earlier the body of the wraith, if it could still be called that, appeared to be very frail; not a hint of muscle anywhere upon its frame.

The being in front of them hefted Its scythe and screamed a challenge to the sky. Sakura covered her ears at the terrible noise and Shaoran winced visibly.

"I grow tired of these games!" Fate proclaimed, spinning the scythe around in a circle before Itself. The weapon began to glow blue and suddenly the glow shot away from the blade in fist sized streams towards the four heroes who scattered to avoid the danger but Fate had anticipated the move; or perhaps had foreseen it, for vines shot out of the ground and wrapped tightly around the separated companions.

Keroberos and Yue were quickly overpowered and were soon hidden from sight under huge, writhing piles of greenery for their power was drawn from Sakura; and was therefore lesser than that of Shaoran and Sakura.

That said, Shaoran and Sakura were not in the best of situations themselves but were at least able to struggle against the vines. The two hacked at the suffocating vegetation but it seemed to have no effect, more vines just crept into place to resume the crushing.

Suddenly the force in the vines slackened and then was gone altogether. As the vines seemed to whither and die they dropped from Sakura and Shaoran to the ground where they crumbled into dust that was blow away by the wind. The couple, choking and gasping, was collapsed on the ground.

Sakura forced herself to look up through half open eyes to see what had happened. Fate was climbing to Its feet, screaming words she couldn't hear but she dimly saw the mouth moving angrily. Between them and Fate stood Himura, sword held in the guard position with both hands. There was a long and deep looking wound across Fate's chest and right arm all the way down to the wrist and blood dripped from Himura's blade, sizzling as it touched the ground.

Then powerful arms were picking her up and her head lolled back to rest in the crook of Shaoran's elbow as he picked Sakura up. He looked down with concern but smiled when he saw that she recognised him and didn't seem to be permanently harmed. His mouth moved but Sakura couldn't hear him, there was just a loud thumping in her ears and she absently thought that it was probably her blood pumping through her arteries. Shaoran was worried at her lack of response, she could see it written across her face and fought the tears that came to her eyes and pointed to her ears and shook her head, not trusting her voice.

Shaoran's pained face relaxed a little and nodded that he understood and glanced up at the wraith. He couldn't tell Sakura what Himura had said since she couldn't hear for some reason, a small part of him was worried that perhaps she had completely last her hearing forever but he pushed the small voice to the back of his mind and locked it away.

"What are you waiting for? Get out of here!" Himura shouted. Elena was lying on the ground behind Fate, still and pale with her closed eyes staring up at the sky. Shaoran thought she was dead; but her chest rose just a fraction before falling again, she was just unconscious. "Did you hear what I said?" Himura demanded, mightily deflecting Fate's onslaught with frightful precision and countering with a deadly lunge.

Elena and Sakura had been unable to defeat Fate with the use of swords and they were not unskilled themselves, Sakura and Shaoran had not been able to defeat Fate with their combined magic; but here Himura was pushing Fate back with delirious ease and skill. Shaoran didn't wait to be yelled at again and so ran away from the battle and into the woods with the precious bundle in his arms.

* * *

A hand reached up and gently tugged his shirt and he looked down to see Sakura looking up at him. She shook her head and pointed back the way they had come. It was clear she wanted to return and fight but Shaoran firmly denied her plea with a shake of his head and continued on.

Sakura could feel the thumping lessen as her fear receded and she looked up at Shaoran, moving her tongue experimentally before trying to say something but her voice was inaudible even to her so she tried again and this time Shaoran could hear; although her voice was barely a whisper her words were clear and her speech uninterrupted.

"Shaoran-kun we need to go back. Himura-san can't fight It alone." She shuddered, remembering the vines that had so nearly killed them, the realisation that she had nearly died struck her anew and tears pricked at the corners of her eyes again.

"Imanda said to run and then to return when you were strong enough. He said he'll hold out until then, he gave me a folded piece of paper. He must've been prepared for all this, I don't know how but he seems to have a plan." Sakura nodded weakly and settled into Shaoran's arms again.

They made it to a clearing above the cliff which Sakura's brother had fallen down many years before when Sakura had been searching for the Mirror Card. Shaoran laid Sakura down on the grass and propped her against a tree before sitting down himself. Sakura could see he was hurt too from the vines; but to a lesser extent. Sakura may have been the more powerful sorcerer; but Shaoran was physically tougher, and it was not entirely due to the difference in gender and lifestyle.

"Do you have that piece of paper?" Sakura asked, her voice gaining strength again, her body was slowly waking up too. Shaoran nodded and reached into his trouser pocket, pulling out the folded note and opened it up. He moved to sit next to Sakura and held it so that they could both read it.

"_Dear Sakura-san and Li-san,_

_If my worst case scenario has been met then you must be reading this while I battle Fate alone and Elena is either with me or is too injured to fight, most likely the latter I fear. I can defeat Fate but not kill It, that is something I have been unable to do and is why It is still alive now._

_Sakura-san, I sincerely hope that you still have The Hope Card in your possession, for this is the Card that is able to seal Fate. As you will have found out, the other Cards will only annoy Fate or perhaps inflict minor injuries. You must use this Card which has the power of all the other Cards; and you must use it together with Li-san._

_You may or may not know that you can use wield your staff with another person at the same time, simply by both of you holding the weapon at the same time. Also, your Guardians are both able to merge with the staff. If possible, you must all combine your powers to use The Hope Card against Fate. Upon your return to the battle I will create an opening for you to use the Card through the use of a technique which will bind Fate still temporarily._

_Good luck. Let us all hope that you are successful._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Himura Imanda._

After reading the letter, Sakura suddenly gasped and shot to her feet; but the effort left her weak and she swayed dangerously until Shaoran caught her and supported her.

"Kero-chan and Yue-san! Where are they?" She asked; but as if her emotions had called out to them there was a rustle and the two Guardians burst out of the vegetation from where Sakura and Shaoran had come from. The two looked battered but none the worse for wear.

Sakura quickly explained what they had to do and the two nodded.

"We'll wait until we're sure we can bind with the staff without leaving you in danger before we do so. Let's return back there, that blonde kid can't fight against that monster forever." Keroberos said.

"Actually, you're wrong about that." A familiar, jovial voice made them all jump and look up to the foliage of the tree that Sakura and Shaoran had been leaning against. Elena grinned down at them all, sitting in a branch and swinging her legs.

"Elena-chan!" Sakura cried happily, tears again pricking in her eyes. Elena made a face and jumped down to land in front of them smoothly, no sign of her earlier injury present.

"Himie fixed me up before he rescued you lot, so don't make that face, I was never going to die anyway. Himie and I have a special second life where if we are injured to the point of death we retreat into a normal human's form with no powers whatsoever, while our powers restore our real bodies to normal." She stretched her arms and yawned, as if they weren't about to put a plan into action to save the world.

"What do you mean I was wrong about that? That kid can't possibly fight against that creature when we were all trapped so easily." Keroberos growled but Elena shook her head and grinned at his lack of knowledge.

"Himie has fought on and off with Fate for a few years and each time he's forced It back to Its lair whenever some idiot's released it from there. You think he's not very strong because you can't sense very much power inside him, right?" She smiled knowingly. "Himie conceals his power, it's under several seals and he can open them one at a time to release it. It means his powers grow faster with time since they're not being used and it's also good for surprising enemies and hiding himself from other magic users." She turned to go back into the forest.

"Well, let's go. Himie and I have set up all the binding spots ready to trap Fate; all we need now is you to beat it." The group all nodded their readiness grimly and together they all ran back into the woods, back towards the fight.

* * *

"You seek to fight me alone, again? I will not be sent back without having accomplished what I came for!" Fate screeched, the scythe whispering through the air. Himura grabbed the weapon by the blade, stopping it short and pulled Fate towards him, swinging his sword in a might slash that cut deep into Fate's chest and sliced neatly through shoulder bones. He then kicked Fate in the solar plexus, right where the fresh wound had started; and sent the entity wheeling backwards before it recovered.

Himura wasn't breathing heavily; he was unwounded, despite having just caught the weapon that nearly 'killed' Elena with his hand by the blade; nor did he have any marks of battle upon him at all. Fate, on the other hand, was covered in sword wounds both deep and long that had been inflicted with calculated precision; and was breathing heavily in addition to the above.

There was the sound of pounding footsteps and the small group of fighters burst out of the wood, weapons at the ready. Fate glared at them all, then caught sight of Elena standing cheerily in a relaxed posed, sword over shoulder as if it were a tennis racket.

"How do you still live?" Fate demanded, turning to look at where Elena had lain. The area was clear, not even a single drop of blood or shred of clothing. Himura burst into laughter.

"You didn't notice? You're definitely going senile." He jabbed, rolling his shoulders. "And now it's about time we remove you once and for all." He growled, his voice instantly losing the light tone and becoming harsh. He slammed his sword into the ground and the palms of his hands slammed against each other, fingers aligned against each other and pointing to the sky in a praying pose. His eyes were closed and his face was serene.

Elena had somehow made her way around to the other side of Fate without making a sound and was in the same pose. Blue lightning shot between their sounds to strike Fate and wrap around It like a coil, strapping Its arms to Its sides and slamming Its legs together. It hopped once or twice before losing Its balance and toppling over ungracefully onto the ground before mysteriously rising into the air and turning until It was righted.

Columns of earth rose out of the ground up to either side of Fate and beams shout, wrapping themselves around wrists, ankles and torso until It was completely unable to move, not for lack of trying.

"Now!" Himura called, opening his eyes and relaxing his posture, turning to throw the call to the group. Yue and Keroberos were surrounded by their wings and turned into gusts of magical wind that flew into Sakura's staff until it was seven foot long with large, white wings emerging out of the top. Shaoran stepped up behind her and she felt his arms come around her to hold the staff, supporting both her and the weapon.

"Let's do it." He muttered into her ear and she nodded, trying desperately to ignore the embarrassment at the pose welling up inside her. From underneath the King Penguin Tomoyo was filming the two. She had chronicled the entire battle after Himura had started to battle Fate by himself and she had been crestfallen to find that Sakura was not fighting; and had even been taken away from the fight by Shaoran. When they had returned the camera had swung towards them until Himura and Elena had started their sealing magic. Not wanting to miss this turning point in the battle, Tomoyo's camera had been trained back onto the mysterious couple as they cast their magic.

"**Hope!**" The two called out the name of the Card and it flew up to hover in the air above them, almost eager to be used for the first time. Sakura and Shaoran swung the staff so that it touched the Card and there was a flash of light as The Hope, the Sealed Card, rose out of the card and flew to hover before Fate who screeched and struggled, spewing curses at them all.

The girl that was The Hope touched her hand gently to Fate's cheek and smiled. She began to fade; but as they all thought the magic had somehow run out Fate too began to disappear. When The Hope had touched Fate It had been instantly calm, almost serene as It stared into The Hope's smiling, kind and yet sad face, nor had is struggled as it was removed from existence.

"You win, Lord Imanda. You win." The voice echoed around the park, acknowledging the final defeat before Fate disappeared completely. Sakura slouched and Shaoran, his hand still on the staff, quickly wrapped his arms around her stomach to hold her up before slowly lowering the girl to the ground.

* * *

Keroberos and Yue both removed themselves from the staff that Sakura still held onto tightly in her left hand. The two rushed to her side but were relieved to find she was simply asleep, exhausted. Shaoran felt a wave of exhaustion surge over him too but he resisted it. Sakura had used all her magic up in the battle, all her energy as well as much of the energy of her Guardians. Shaoran had used up his as well; but he had not been fighting for so long.

Himura and Elena slowly wondered over, sheathing swords as they walked. Tomoyo revealed herself and joined the group standing over the sleeping hero.

"All's well that ends well." Himura said, smiling kindly down at Sakura. His gaze turned up to Shaoran. "We'll be leaving once we've been able to say our farewells to you all, now that our task here is done." Himura said.

"You came her only to help Sakura-chan and Shaoran-kun?" Tomoyo inquired and Himura nodded.

"Elena and I were gifted with the power to travel between worlds and we have used it to try and protect as many people as possible, to keep things as normal as they can be and also to protect friendships we made when we lost control of our powers and were thrown into random worlds." He smiled and Tomoyo nodded. She had, of course, known all along. Elena was not here because of her father's work, it had been an excuse for Elena to stay with them. Tomoyo had known everything right from the beginning and in her usual manner, had kept silent and let things roll on as naturally as possible.

"Surely you can stay few more days before you return home?" Tomoyo asked; but this time Elena shook her head.

"Unfortunately, we can't go home just yet. It seems we're needed elsewhere, a certain butler may need our help." She glanced at Himura who nodded, having felt the outside influence enter that particular world. "Still, it would be nice to have a break Himie, a holiday with just the two of us." Elena said, slipping an arm through Himura's and latching onto it. Himura turned and kissed her on the forehead, smiling sadly.

"I know; but you know we're far too important to have time for ourselves." He said, grinning.

Shaoran picked Sakura up and they all trudged back to the Kinomoto house. Himura held his hand up to the sky and his index finger tip glowed yellow and suddenly, in a rush, the noises of a live world returned as time was restored. Shaoran opened the window upstairs; he and Tomoyo were in Sakura's room and would stay with her until she woke up. Yue, after making sure all was well, had flown away to where Yukito had been before the whole trouble had started.

"We'll come visit tomorrow before lunch, okay?" Elena called up. Tomoyo and Shaoran nodded and waved back to the English couple who turned to walk away down the street.

Shaoran turned back into the room to look at the sleeping Sakura, now in bed with the duvet pulled up to her neck. Tomoyo had changed Sakura into pyjamas while he had stayed modestly outside. He remembered Himura's words after the battle.

"All's well that ends well."

**Note: **An epilogue to come; but otherwise over. And there's a hint to the 'sequel' here in what Elena said, it won't be a crossover nor a CCS fanfic at all; although perhaps with minor references.


	9. Epilogue

**E**pilogue

Shaoran and Tomoyo had stayed at the Kinomoto residence after receiving permission from Sakura's father, Tomoyo shacking out in Sakura's room and Shaoran crashing out on the sofa.

Early in the morning Shaoran was assisting Sakura's father in making breakfast when there was a knock on the door.

"I'll go see who it is." Fujitaka, Sakura's father, said. Shaoran took over in watching the eggs simmer as the lecturer answered the door.

"We stopped by to check up on Sakura-san before we left." Himura's voice drifted through into the kitchen and Shaoran looked up, momentarily finding some more interesting than watching poached eggs slowly cook.

Fujitaka led the English couple into the sitting room and offered them to eat breakfast with the others but they declined.

"We must be off soon," Himura said, Elena had gone up the stairs to find Tomoyo and Sakura, "we just wanted to make sure everything was back to normal before we left." Fujitaka, now imbued with half of Clow Reed's power and therefore with some knowledge on the various magic happenings in Sakura's life, chose not to push for details and nodded his understanding.

"How about some tea then, while you wait?" Fujitaka asked, Himura's face brightened up.

"A spot of tea would be perfect. Also, if I might be so rude as to ask the use of your phone?" Himura had his English gentleman mode in action, perhaps his true nature with a splash of formality.

"Of course, go ahead." Fujitaka said with a kind smile before leaving to brew the tea. Himura stood up and went to the phone, dialled a number and waited for the other end to pick up.

"An interesting time to call, Himura-kun." Eriol's voice was audible on the other side.

"I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I must thank you again for giving me access to your library, the information I found there was invaluable."

"You are most welcome. I assume that you have been successful, in that case?" Eriol asked, cutting to the chase.

"We have indeed. Sakura-san and her beloved are now joint masters, as we had predicted. They should be safe from anything this world can throw at them; and should something from another world threaten them… well we'll be there by their side again." Himura heard a chuckle on the other end of the line.

"You are an interesting man, Himura-kun. Don't forget that you have a life to live too, you can't spend all of it chasing about saving everyone." Eriol's kind voice put a heavy weight on Himura's shoulder. The truth was, he wanted nothing more than to sit back and enjoy life.

"We both know that if one is given a power, they should use it to help as many as possible. You chose to do so by guiding Sakura-san and Li-san and ensuring the safety of this world, I have chosen to do so by stopping outside interference wherever I can go."

"But you can not be everywhere at once, Himura-kun. There are too many worlds and regarding that, I looked into what you asked and I'm afraid your predictions were exactly right. I can not give you a time frame for the event; but I imagine you had predicted the time before you contacted me."

"You know me well, Eriol." Himura said, smiling sadly. His predictions had been correct, that meant he had to move on as quickly as possible. He exchanged the finishing pleasantries then hung up the line. Fujitaka entered the living room carrying a tray with a tea set on it.

"Thank you letting me use your phone. I hope the overseas call charges aren't too bad here." Himura said, sitting down on the sofa.

"I'm sure the cost of the call was trivial in comparison to its importance." Fujitaka said and Himura glanced up with the same sad smile on his face.

"I'm afraid it was rather important." He chose to say no more but he didn't exactly have time to say anything else for the sound of footsteps coming down the steps broke the quiet of the house.

Soon the group was sitting in the living room, arrayed around the table in the middle with cups of tea in their hands and biscuits in their hands.

"Do you really have to go so soon?" Sakura asked, newly awoken. It was plain to see that she was still exhausted but the rest had alleviated a lot of it. Himura glanced at Elena who nodded.

"I'm sorry but there are places we need to be; and I think it's best if Himie explains why." Elena studiously sipped her tea, indicated she would say no more so Himura sighed and looked around the group, his gaze finally settling on Sakura and Shaoran, the couple sitting together on the sofa opposite them.

"It's about time I explained everything. Who Ellie and I are, why we are here, what we do and what is to come. I'll start with the easiest to begin with." He took one last drink from his cup before putting it down on the table.

"Earlier, you may have heard Fate addressing Ellie and I as Lord Imanda and Lady Mithran respectively. That is what we are, nobles. Our families are lines of distinguished and powerful sorcerers and warriors; but that isn't why we have these titles. Ellie and I come from a different world, separate from your dimension." Himura paused for a moment, deciding how best to explain the next part of their story.

"Between the age of two and three, many children in our world have IQ tests taken. Across the world some supposedly impossible results popped up. Children born around a certain time were gaining results double those of full grown adults; and I mean adults who had high IQs compared to most of the world. It took a year for all this data to be collected and processed in one place; and then strange portals opened all across the world." Himura closed his eyes; the memory was one he could not forget.

"Demons and 'angels' came out of these portals. They fought across the planet. All the armies of the world were reduced to nothing. People were slain and their souls used to bolster the ranks of both armies. Two months after this started several demons had been killed by children. The same children who had had the high IQs. The children were normal in every other respect up until the demons appeared. They were able to ward off demons without knowing it. Some even released powers that killed demons in their sleep.

"Ellie and I are both children who had these mysterious powers and the high IQ. Scientists put two and two together and everywhere we were hidden. The demons and 'angels' had come in greater force to dispose of us, we were the only threat to their dominance and humans recognised us as their only chance against these two threats, so we were hidden.

"Years passed, the intruders searched for us and we were hidden everywhere. Almost every human was part of our concealment. We lived pretty normal lives but under constant protection. When I was twelve, my powers had fully woken in me. Before no one had been able to control them, it was only under extreme circumstances we could use them. It happened to people at different times, it was obviously some point in puberty that caused it but I was one of the first to gain my powers.

"No one really knew what to do. We had to mount some kind of offensive to drive the invaders back; but anything public and we'd be found out. Then one of our own stepped forward. He used his senses and gathered the twenty strongest people together from all over the world. We trained all day for over half a year before we separated again to round up the strongest people we could around where we lived and train them quickly. Two months later we started an operation to drive the enemy away under the coordination of the one who had brought us together in the first place."

Himura paused in his tale, taking a sip from his now lukewarm tea, giving him time to think before he continued.

"We were successful and we drove them all out within forty eight hours without suffering a single casualty. After that we placed guards on the portals the enemy had opened and at last we had time to organise things properly.

"Our leader, a boy named Bryan James, founded the Guardians. It is made up of people like Ellie and I, people who were born with tremendously high IQs and strange powers. Sir Bryan leads the organisation as the commander; but he also has the Council of Twenty, a group of the strongest and brightest Guardians to strategise with him and also as an elite force in case of emergency. Our enemies saw our defences and instead sought strength from elsewhere, invading worlds and trying to destroy them. To stop this we Guardians spread out among the worlds in need of our help and protect them; and in so doing protect ourselves. That is why Ellie and I are here; and also why we can not stay for long.

"As for what is to come… we can limit how powerful or enemies become; but we can not stop them becoming strong enough to push a real war into being. If we lose, then everyone loses so in addition to protecting worlds, we inform the heroes of each world of what is to come; and that we may well need their help for their enemies will side with ours; and if they win then they'll return to kill the heroes and attain victory." Himura picked up his tea and finish drinking again. The other digested the mass of information he had dumped on them but Ellie shook her head.

"Himie left something out." She said, Himura opened one eye, glanced at her then closed his eye again, pretending he wasn't listening. "In case you hadn't already guessed, Himie and I are both on the Council; and while each of us is powerful and leads a brigade of other Guardians, Himie is slightly different. Sir Bryan doesn't have time to do all the work so he has a vice-commander, that's Himie. Not only that; but because Bryan is overall commander of an international military organisation as well as the commander of each nation's separate, normal militaries, he cannot command his own brigade." Again Elena glanced at Himie but it was clear he didn't want to reveal his real position.

"So what, Himura-san is the second most powerful person from you world?" Sakura asked, trying not to stare at Himura in awe. He was a well mannered, kind and intelligent boy; but that was all. He did not look amazingly strong, indeed, he looked to be in excellent shape with finely toned muscles but he lacked the bulk of say, a professional weight lifter. He did not look like one of the most powerful people in the universe.

"Himie is more than equal to anything in Heaven or Hell, our two enemies, with the exception of the two leaders from each domain. He also leads the strongest of all the Guardian Brigades. Himie was the first person Sir Bryan came in contact with as their power is almost equal; and so Himie leads Sir Bryan's brigade in his stead: Her Majesty the Queen of England's British Guardian Brigade. The oldest brigade made up of the smartest and most powerful of all the Guardians, eight of the Council are in the Brigade." Himura put his cup and saucer down, having finished his drink and smiled round at them, as if the news of him having power almost equal to that of a deity had not been revealed.

"So now you know. I doubt you'll remember all of that and you really don't need to. It's just we felt it unfair for us not to tell you everything. As second in command, it's my job to go and protect and inform the most powerful and important of potential allies of what is happening. I hope we can count on you, Sakura-san and Li-san, to help us when we need you." Himura waited, absolutely still with strong and earnest eyes, as he waited for their reply.

Sakura and Shaoran sat on the sofa, Sakura leaning unsteadily on Shaoran and Shaoran gently holding her with an army wrapped around her shoulders. They looked at each other for a moment before turning back to Himura and nodded.

"You helped us." Shaoran said simply and Sakura smiled weakly.

"If everyone else was in danger because we didn't help out I'd feel guilty forever. If we can protect everyone in any way then we'll help, right Shaoran?" She asked. Shaoran nodded his assent.

"Right." Himura breathed a sigh of relief and smiled broadly.

"I'm glad. I don't want to seem like this was just a business visit but Ellie and I have to go, now. We don't have much time to finish the tasks Sir Bryan and I came up with; there are still many worlds we must visit before the time is up. When the time comes, someone will appear to you and you will know they are one of us, for they will wear the same uniform as we do." Himura stood up, as did Elena and they moved closer together. Himura's hand found Elena's and suddenly there was a flash of purple behind them; a swirling portal was formed from the flash.

"Bye bye, Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan, Shaoran-kun." Elena said, tears in her eyes and giving them all a small wave. Himura dipped his head in a small bow and smiled sadly.

"I'm afraid next time we meet won't be such a happy, easy time either; but after this is all over, I hope we can spend time together, as friends." With that, the two turned and stepped through the portal which snapped closed behind them, leaving the trio staring at the sofa and a wall.

* * *

Hours later, Sakura and Shaoran sat alone on a bench facing the lake near the park. Sakura's head was rested on Shaoran's shoulder and they were at peace.

"It's strange, how things turn out, isn't it?" Sakura asked Shaoran.

"Yeah, it is," Shaoran replied, they lapsed into more comfortable silence before Shaoran continued, turning to Sakura a little who sat up properly, "but I think it all turned out as well as it could have, with one thing missing." Sakura, somehow, immediately knew from Shaoran's face what was coming and she blushed heavily, leaning in closer as Shaoran did so.

Before the lake, with the sun slowly descending below the horizon, alone for one peaceful moment, the two lovers kissed at last.

* * *

"So, what's our next stop?" Elena asked. Himura stood; they were on a grey ring floating in a sea of purple, reading from a small notebook. He held a hand out in the air and a portal opened up in front of them, showing another Japanese town, or rather a city. In the distance a large clock tower was visible.

"I don't know what's going on here; but we're here to help a butler, his mistress and a school council president."

**Fin.**

**

* * *

**

**Note: **As a few of you may have guessed by my non-subtle hints in the past two chapters, I am planning a sequel. Some of you may even have guessed what it will be a fanfiction of but I will state it here and now so it's clear: The sequel to this will be a Hayate no Gotoku fanfiction. The second season of the anime is currently airing; and it's not so bad to catch up. All you need to do is watch episodes 1-19 of the first season and then you can go onto the second season which is more closely following the manga; and I am basing it on the second series thus far. It is a great watch and I advise you to watch it.

Also, in case you hadn't guessed, there will be a long series of books following the adventures of Himura and Elena, my lovely little creations. I have ideas for: Shakugan no Shana (another great watch; and this will be me remaking the previous story I started), Shugo Chara! (if you liked CCS, you'll probably like Shugo Chara!, you can watch the whole lot up-to-date on crunchyroll. I've read the manga up to date as well but I won't be basing it on that), The Vision of Escaflowne (a true classic, very different to CCS and it will be dark, as is befitting this series); and perhaps more.

These fanfictions will, of course, be related to each other but will not directly influence each other. I may leave hints of past events in each one; but they won't be significant so if you're interested in following the 'series' then missing out one or two fanfictions wouldn't be critical.

Also: In case people are confused as to certain things in this such as Fujitaka having half of Clow Reed's power in him etc. etc. I have used the anime series as a base with the bits of the manga that I deemed appropriate for my use. The manga isn't hard to track down and it's definitely a worthy read, I, personally, prefer the manga's ending to the series' and I hope to someday see a remake of CCS closer to the manga, such as is being done for FullMetal Alchemist; and indeed Hayate no Gotoku.

Thanks for reading!


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